Water Heater Buddy Plus AUTO Customize Your Own, 30A 2-way switcher, 5ft. cable with kWh Meter Buy Sale Online

New GEN II Buddy’s with gorgeous new custom graphics and enclosures! These are our best Buddy boxes ever! STILL PROUDLY BUILT HERE IN THE USA!! 

This is the Water Heater™ Plus AUTO Customize Your Own Page, here you pick your own power input cable and two outlets amongst many choices, this is offered as an easier alternative to looking through our catalog for a pre-configured Water Heater™ Plus AUTO to fit your needs.

The most popular units are;

NEMA 10-30 power cord and two NEMA 10-30 outlets

NEMA 14-30 power cord and two NEMA 14-30 outlets

NEMA 10-30 power cord, one NEMA 14-30 outlet and one NEMA 10-30 outlet

NEMA 10-30 power cord, one NEMA 14-50 outlet and one NEMA 10-30 outlet

NEMA 14-30 power cord, one NEMA 10-30 outlet and one NEMA 14-30 outlet

NEMA 14-30 power cord, one NEMA 14-50 outlet and one NEMA 14-30 outlet

If you don’t find the combo you need just ask, custom request are what BSA Electronics specializes in!

The fully automatic Water Heater Buddy™ is here!

The Water Heater™ Plus AUTO is a fully automatic 2-way switcher based on the Dryer Buddy™ Plus AUTO. It allows you to share your Electric Water Heater tank outlet with your EVSE without having to flip any switches. It takes advantage of the fact that domestic hot water demand over night is at its lowest, while this is also the most common time to charge an EV. Traditional tanked water Heaters are well insulated and can be switched off over night for several hours when large hot water demand isn’t present (showers/laundry) without losing all their heat. Power can then be restored a few hours before the first showers of the days are expected. This is similar to the installation of a 240volt timer which has been documented for some time on the web for the purpose of saving energy over night. Basic operation is simple, the Electric Vehicle (left) priority outlet is always live and the Water Heater (right) outlet is only live when your EV isn’t charging. When your EV is drawing little to no amps the Water Heater outlet is switched on allowing it to add heat to the tank of water. Any time the EV needs to charge or top up, the Water Heater outlet is switched off, when the EV is done, power is restored to the Water Heater outlet. It is recommended to set the vehicle or EVSE charge timer for a few hours before you need hot water in the morning  so the Water Heater has a chance to bring the tank back up to it full temp. Designed so other members of the house don’t have to understand anything technical to charge an EV. Great for apartment dwellers, temp housing or an easy hookup at a friend’s/relatives house. This unit is built with a 5’ cable and two outlets.

Be sure to set your Electric Vehicle or EV Charging Station (EVSE) to 24amps or less when using this Water Heater Buddy (max draw for 30amp Dryer Circuit).

Important Note: The Water Heater™ Plus AUTO is designed for use with a typical tanked Electric Water Heater, they’re thermostat/heating elements are simple analog devices which aren’t affected by the power source switching on/off.  The Water Heater™ Plus AUTO can work with Tankless Water Heaters with some caveats but isn’t recommended. Those are microprocessor controlled so every time your EV finishes charging your Tankless Water Heater will reboot which may or may not affect operation, also you won’t receive hot water if the EV is charging unlike a typical tanked Electric Water Heater with has a LOT of reserve. Hybrid Water Heaters are also microprocessor controlled, some with WiFi/Bluetooth and rebooting every time your EV finishes charging may or may not affect their operation.

See my demo video here of the Dryer Buddy Plus AUTO that the Water Heater Buddy is based on:  Dryer Buddy Plus AUTO with kWh meter Demo

Compared to the Dryer Buddy Plus AUTO we prioritize EV charging in the Water Heater Buddy, you plug your EV into the Left always on outlet and the meters read amps/watts and accumulates kWh’s flowing to this outlet. Your Water Heater plugs into the Right switched outlet. As Water Heater Buddy shares the same custom graphic printed cover as the Dryer Buddy, it will have a Water Heater label over the “EV” word above the Right outlet.

The Water Heater Buddy Plus AUTO meter is wired to read system Voltage and only meter the Current flowing through the EVSE (left) always on outlet, unlike the Dryer Buddy Plus AUTO where the meter reads Current flowing through the EVSE (right) switched outlet. In this configuration the Kilowatt Hours (kWh’s) will only accumulate for Energy flowing through the EVSE outlet (on the left of the face) this value is stored between power outages and may be reset when you like. This allows you to see only the Energy your Electric vehicle has consumed.

Need some help identifying your wall outlet? We can help! Below is a description of the more common NEMA outlets and their numbers as well as some handy NEMA plug charts. You can also email us a pic of your plugs and outlets you need help identifying and we would be happy to help.

Here are the more common NEMA outlets:

• 5-15 standard 15A 120 volt household outlet, the most common you see everywhere.
• 5-20 standard 20A 120 volt household outlet, required by code in bathroom and behind your refrigerator.
• 6-15 standard 15A 240 volt household outlet, found in homes and motels for running in-wall Air Conditioners, it’s the smaller brother to the NEMA 6-20 outlet. The 5-20 is not as common as a 6-20 outlet with it’s “T” shaped slot as it will accept both 6-20 and 6-15 plugs.
• 6-20 standard 20A 240 volt household outlet, found in homes and motels for running in-wall Air Conditioners, also found occasionally in residential garages.
• 6-50 standard 50A 240 volt 3-prong outlet, found in shops and garages used for large welders.
• 10-30 standard 30A 240 volt 3-prong Dryer outlet found in homes build before 1996
• 14-30 standard 30A 240 volt 4-prong Dryer outlet found in homes build in 1996 and newer
• 14-50 standard 50A 240 volt 4-prong Range (electric stove top) outlet, also called RV-50 at the RV parks. By far the best universal connector to have for an EVSE. This is the one the Tesla guys install in their garages.
• TT-30 (Travel Trailer 30amp) 30A 120 volt 3-prong outlet, the older style found in RV parks, not used in residential homes.
• L6-30 (locking 240 volt 30amp) Twist-Lock 30A 240 volt outlet, my personal favorite locking connector, easy to find in stores, works great for adding adapters to portables EVSE’s equipped with a L6-30 plug.

220/240 volt outlets are commonly install with the ground pin towards the ceiling for safety. 110/120 volt outlets can be found mounted in all directions. Be sure to carefully look at your outlet and the chart, it’s easy to mistake one outlet for another if your outlet has it’s ground pin facing the floor instead of the ceiling or Vice Versa compared to the chart.

In the full NEMA number you will see a capital R or P. The R stands for Receptacle (outlet) and the P stands for Plug, we commonly truncate this to just the numbers and add the word receptacle (or outlet) at the end. For example 14-50R becomes 14-50 receptacle or 14-50 outlet.

Need some extra length between your Dryer outlet and Dryer Buddy™ or between the Dryer Buddy™ and your Electric Vehicle Charging Station (EVSE)? I custom build extension cords to the length your need and with the plug and outlet of your choice, see my extensions in the Adapter’s section for several models; Extension Cords

Give you new Buddy unit a techie look with Beautiful Black Socket Head Screws with matching black washers; Black Socket Head Screw and washer Upgrade Pak for all Buddy units

Email me with your custom request.